After shelling out close to a thousand dollars on the Vive, you might find yourself a little light on funds for new games. Fortunately there are quite a few titles available for free. As of July 2016, here are some of my favorite free Steam VR apps:

1. The Lab

Valve’s “the Lab” is a compilation of mini-games.

Download the Lab

2. NightCafe

Originally released for Oculus Rift in 2015, NightCafe is now available on SteamVR!

Download NightCafe

3. The Cubicle

I almost didn’t download this. That would have been a mistake!

Download the Cubicle

4. Waltz of the Wizard

Tons of magic to play with!
Download Waltz of the Wizard

5. VR Funhouse

Want to play carnival games without paying two bucks a throw? Nvidia shows off their debut VR experience.

Download VR Funhouse

6. Abe VR

Another Oculus Rift adaptation for the Vive.

Download Abe VR

7. The Foo Show

If you are a fan of Will Smith, you have to check out the Foo show featuring Will Smith.

Download The Foo Show

8. The Rose and I

This is a VR short film.

Download The Rose and I

9. Broomball

Download Broomball

10. Ikea VR Experience

Download Ikea VR Experience

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Valve’s first ‘Vive’ Developer Edition VR headsets and controllers are now shipping and some lucky devs already have them.

Source: Valve ‘Vive’ Developer Edition Kits Have Arrived – First Unboxing Images Appear – Road to VR

According to the aforementioned roadtovr.com article, the Valve ‘Vive’ is to be released this November or December, just in time for the Holidays. According to Oculus, the Rift isn’t going to hit the shelves until the first quarter of 2016. This could be a huge loss for Oculus as well as developers who have put all of their eggs in Oculus’ basket. I’m hoping they will at least offer pre-order specials for the holidays, so that us developers can get a share of that revenue being dumped into the gaming industry this holiday season. Otherwise, some of you indy devs who were hoping to see a paycheck this year, might just think about investing in the developer kit still being offered by HTC. I’m strongly considering it myself! Let’s compare the two:

Vive:

HEADSET
The VR headset has a 1080×1200 pixels screen in front of each eye with a refresh rate of 90fps. An audio jack is included to plug in your own headphones.
GAME CONTROLLERS
Two VR game controllers (one for each hand) are included allowing you to use virtual objects and interact with the virtual word. The position of each controller is also tracked in space by the base stations.
BASE STATIONS
Two base stations track your physical location (in spaces up to 15×15 feet) A gyrosensor, accelerometer, and laser position sensor combine to precisely track the rotation of your head on both axes to an accuracy of 1/10th of a degree.

Source: Steam VR

Oculus DK2:

HEADSET

Resolution 960 x 1080 per eye with a refresh rate of 75 Hz.
Viewing Optics 100° Field of View (nominal)

SENSORS

Near Infrared CMOS Sensor
Update Rate – 60 Hz

WEIGHT

0.97lbs

Source: Oculus.com

edit: according to this article Oculus will be doing a pre-order at the end of the year! Good news devs, time to get crackin on that holiday cash crop!

Edit: Oculus released specs, Rift will be the same specs as the Vive… https://forums.oculus.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=22954

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